Obama was speaking at a fund-raising event in front of 1,300 people in California on Saturday, at which West was scheduled to perform after his speech, as media reported.

The 38-year-old rapper announced his plan to run for the highest office in the land in four years' time at the MTV VMAs back in August, and the President took the opportunity to refer to that.

"In a little while you are going to hear from a guy who is thinking about getting into politics. It couldn't get any stranger," Obama said at San Francisco's iconic Warfield Theater.

"In case Kanye is serious about this whole POTUS thing, or, as Kanye calls it, 'peezy', you've got to deal with strange characters who behave as if they are on a reality TV show," Obama offered up as advice to the would-be President West.

"Saying you have a beautiful dark twisted fantasy — that's what's known as off-message in politics," he said, referring to West's 2010 album.

Obama signed off with a final joke, referencing the ongoing ludicrous saga about his own birth certificate. "Do you really think this country is going to elect a black guy from the south side of Chicago with a funny name to be President of the US”, Obama added.